"You can't be Jewish in this world. We have no place on earth. We are cursed. We will always be killed."

           The most terrible thing is that the film is based on the real events of the 1946 Jewish pogrom in Kielce in Poland.

People, the few who were lucky enough to survive the Disaster, are returning to their hometown.They believe and hope that all the horror is over and now a real, normal life will begin. But these people apparently forgot that they are not just people, they are Jews and that the normal life of Jews consists of pogroms, humiliation and hatred. And soon they will be reminded of it... Poland has been silent for a long time about these events. Only in 1996, the country's Foreign Minister, Dariusz Rosati, sent a letter to the World Jewish Congress, in which, in particular, he stated: 'We will mourn the victims of the pogrom in Kielce. We must consider this act of Polish anti-Semitism as our common tragedy. We are ashamed that Poland committed this crime. We ask your forgiveness." For whom did the minister apologize?

In July 1946, a nine-year-old boy disappeared from one of the local Catholic families. Within a few hours, a rumor spread through the city that the child had been the victim of a ritual murder committed by Jews. Factories stopped, and crowds of workers poured into the "Jewish" house where Jewish organizations were located. The bloodthirsty crowd broke into the house. Jews, including children, women and the elderly, were thrown out of windows. Outside, they were finished off with iron rods, clubs and hammers...

The missing boy had returned home, but it no longer mattered.

A total of 42 Jews died in Kielce on July 4, 1946.

God, why do we humans get so violent? What motivates a person when he destroys someone who has personally done him no harm? Of course, we are always subjective in our attitude towards our neighbor. But how you can kill just for your nationality is beyond my mind.

As you know, the Jewish people have suffered immeasurably. In a specific case, as the main character Heinrich noted, there are no people who suffered more than Jews in World War II. But even after the end of the war, the Jewish community of the Polish town had no peace. The "Jews" did not please the Poles by wanting to return their homes, their pre-war life, and their daughter. The locals could not survive the overseas humanitarian aid, as if it could at least recoup the losses incurred in the war.

With regard to the Golde and Sikorsky families, their relationship did not develop from a good life. Both women have suffered a lot. Both mothers almost lost their minds at the possibility of losing their child. But not both of them could remain human. But life really puts everything in its place - Felya made her own choice.

Such films need to be watched, at least in order not to repeat the mistakes of history.

Made in: Belarus, Germany

1941 The Polish town of Kielce is occupied by the Germans... The main character, before being sent to a concentration camp, gives her daughter to a Polish family in which a child has recently died. The war is over, the former prisoner returns to her hometown and wants her daughter back. But the girl grew up not knowing who her real parents were. Internal contradictions and deep emotional experiences put the heroes in a cruel situation of choice.

The film is based on true events that occurred in the Polish city of Kielce on July 4, 1946.

FROM HELL TO HELL  ©1997

A Film from the Artur Brauner Collection at Our Library

Scene from the movie From Hell to Hell

CCC Filmkunst  GERMANY  

Shortly before her deportation, the Polish Jew Helena entrusts her daughter Fela to a childless neighbor. When she comes to pick her up after the war, the two women enter into a fierce battle. The conflict between the local Polish population and the Jewish survivors about the return of residential property escalates into a pogrom.

This German–Belarusian co-production portrays the Kielce Pogrom of 4 July 1946, in which forty-two Jews were murdered. The deadly riots were a clear signal to the Shoah survivors to leave the country. "You are murderers! I hate and despise you!" Fela shouts after her Polish foster mother at the end of the film.